


it doesn't matter

by Schnikeys



Category: Ghost - Mystery Skulls (Music Video), Mystery Skulls (Band)
Genre: Angst, Death, F/M, Friendship, Ghost Hunters, Ghosts, I'm an awful person and I hate myself, Lockets, M/M, Tragedy, Trauma, do you even tag unrequited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-11-08
Packaged: 2018-02-24 13:26:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2583032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schnikeys/pseuds/Schnikeys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>it's you i hate the most (but i don't blame you)</p><p>(an origin story, of a sort)</p>
            </blockquote>





	it doesn't matter

Vivi was thinking about getting a haircut when Lewis fell.

She'd been intending to get a trim for a while, but her day job at the museum was eating up all of her time aside from investigating with the gang. As she'd descended through the rough passage, she had considered just running to the salon during a lunch break - hell, maybe even just during a slow time. She didn't want to leave the gang to their own devices; knowing Lewis, he'd drag Arthur and Mystery into some hijinks that she'd have to drag them back out of, or worse, they'd discover something really cool without her.

She absently touched the heart locket he'd given her as she wove between stalagmites. Maybe she should ask him for haircut ideas? He was more stylish than her by far - he kept gifting her clothes. She should probably just refresh the cut she had, though -

A figure plummeted off of a ledge far above her, and her mind and vision went blank.

 

When the static faded, she saw Lewis. Impaled on a stalagmite like a bug on a card. It had pierced right through his chest. He hung face up, eyes wide and mouth open in a rictus scream. (Was that what rung in her ears?)

Vivi moved towards him. Had to check for a pulse, had to staunch the bleeding, had to -

Her feet slipped in the growing puddle of blood, and she sat down hard, hand on the floor for balance. She was staring at Lewis, but she wasn't seeing him. (He wasn't there.)

It felt like a long time before she levered herself to her feet, but it could have been just a few moments.

Lewis' body was mostly intact - he'd only fallen on one stalagmite. It was probably too thick to break, so she braced her feet around the spur of rock, wrapped her arms under the corpse, and lifted up. He felt much heavier ( ~~than when he was alive~~ ), but the blood coating the stone made it slippery, and the body slid off with an awful grinding, squelching sound. She sat back on the floor, panting.

Lewis was cradled in her arms. His mouth had fallen shut, but his eyes were still open. She could barely register the feeling of blood soaking into her clothes through the buzzing in her head.

She gently lay his body on the ground. She was too tired to carry it all the way up the passageway by herself (and what if she dropped him?), so she'd go get Mystery and Arthur to help.

She blinked and she was at the juncture of the paths. Blinked again and she was partway down the passage the others had gone up. There was someone crying.

Arthur was crouched against the wall, tears running down his face and blood coursing down his side. His left arm was missing. Mystery stood in front of him. Blood dripped from their mouth and glowing tendrils of smoke snaked off of their fur. Arthur's arm lay at their feet.

Vivi looked around for a thin enough stalactite and broke it off. A stone spike to the heart would faze even a demon, and she'd rather lose two friends than three, especially if one was already lost and another was as good as.

She advanced on them as quietly as she could, but, of course, Mystery turned around at her approach. Their eyes widened, and they backed up. ( ~~Good.~~ )

"Vivi - Vivi, wait, please! You don't understand -"

"What don't I understand?" Her voice sounded far away and cold to her ears.

"The arm, Vivi, look at the arm!" Mystery was backed up against Arthur by now, who hadn't moved. His remaining hand was clutching the stump. The left side of his face was - twitching?

She looked down. The decoupled arm was a sickly green, and still moving. In fact, it was trying to crawl away.

She looked back up. The same green tinge was fading from the left side of Arthur's face.

She swung the stone spike - Mystery yelped - and pinned the motile arm to the clay floor. It spasmed and stilled.

"What happened?" She unwound her scarf and crouched beside Arthur, trying to remember how to tie a tourniquet.

"I smelled something wrong, so I followed Arthur and - and Lewis up here," Mystery said quickly, stumbling over their words. "There's - there was a spirit here, and it possessed Arthur's arm, and - and -"

If she kept her hands moving, she could keep herself from screaming. If she started screaming, she wasn't sure if she could get herself to stop. "And then?"

Mystery didn't answer. She tugged the scarf as tight as it could get (Arthur whimpered quietly, but other than that he was silent) and turned to look at them. Mystery was looking a short way down the corridor, where there was an opening. She got to her feet, barely aware of her limbs, and walked to the archway.

It opened to a vast cavern. Vivi looked straight down and saw the gore-stained stalagmite, and the sad mound of pink that was rapidly turning red.

Don't scream.

She blinked and she was kneeling next to Arthur. His face was back to normal, relatively speaking - his eyes were wide and unblinking, and this close to him Vivi could see tear tracks down his cheeks.

"Arthur?" She tugged on his sleeve. Her scarf was slowly turning red as well. "Arthur, we need to get you to a hospital."

She and Mystery together managed to pull him stiffly to his feet and usher him down the corridor and towards the exit. She stopped as soon as they drew in sight of the starlight outside.

"Get him into the car, then go get the arm."

"...What?"

"I need to go back and get something." She turned and started walking back into the cave.

"Why? Why in the seven hells would you want me to go get Arthur's arm?" Mystery shouted at her back.

"We need proof." she replied.

The corpse was cool by the time she got back. She hoisted it into her arms, and Lewis' head flopped against her shoulder in a ridiculous parody of affection. She giggled. Was it light because of all the lost blood? She heard faint whispers around her, but they were unimportant.

She blinked, and she was carefully placing Lewis' body in a tarp in the trunk. Mystery had the arm in their mouth, and was watching her with a worried expression. Arthur was parked in the passenger seat, clutching his stump.

She climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. As she pulled away, Mystery hopped up next to her. She could hear the arm flopping around helplessly on the floor in the backseat.

"What did you need the arm for? There's no way it can be put back, trust me."

"I told you," she said calmly, gripping the steering wheel. "We need proof."

"For _what_?"

"That arm's clearly possessed. That mine is condemned and not renovated or rehabilitated because the county allocated funding to the suburban park commission instead."

"So..."

"So, we'll show them the arm and the body -" a whine from Arthur, "- and they'll raze that cave to the ground."

"Oh."

She blinked and they were checking in to the closest hospital. She blinked and she was giving a statement to the police, handing the arm over as people in white coats wheeled what was left of Lewis away on a gurney. She blinked and she was sitting at home, staring at Lewis' coat on the hangar. He'd only moved in with her a month ago. She realized she was laughing, and had been for a while. At least she wasn't screaming.

She blinked and she was dumping her bloodstained clothes into a bucket of cold water, bath towel wrapped around her body. She was damp - she must have taken a shower.

She blinked and she was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and feeling her muscles scream at her, thinking that she'd give up anything, anything at all to have a warm, breathing Lewis sleeping next to her.

~*~

She was sitting next to Arthur's hospital bed, waiting for him to speak. The doctors had already fitted his arm with a nerve socket, in preparation for a good mechanical prosthetic. Their story had thankfully turned into an example of misaligned governmental budgeting, and not one of ill-prepared young adults poking their noses where they shouldn't. Mystery was curled up on Arthur's feet, for at least until a nurse came by again to check on Arthur's vitals and I.V. lines of medication. Arthur was avoiding her eyes.

"You know I don't blame you, right, Arthur?"

An awful strangled sound escaped his throat, and he looked at her with a stricken expression. "Vivi, how can you  _not_?"

She tapped a finger exaggeratedly to her cheek. " _Well_ , you  _were_ possessed by an incredibly malicious ghost at the time..."

He flung his arm and stump in the air, forgetting he only had one limb and unbalancing himself. She hauled him upright by the shoulder as he protested, "But if I hadn't -"

"Then it might have possessed me, or Lewis." She said reasonably. He didn't need to know what she'd looked up that morning; that possession ghosts targeted the frightened and weak-willed first.

He moved to put his left hand over his eyes, but only flapped his stump uselessly. He stared at it in consternation, then looked at her with watery eyes. "You know I...you know I'd - I'd've never hurt him on purpose, right?"

She rolled her eyes, perching on the edge of the bed. "Um, duh, Arthur. We're - we were all friends. I -" She faltered, "I know you felt left out sometimes, but he loved you.  _I_ love you," she said sincerely, taking his hand. "And you know Mystery loves you."

Instead of comforted, or bashful, he just looked awkward. Mystery nudged his leg and gave him a look. Arthur pulled his hand out of hers and fiddled with the blanket.

"I, uh, did feel left out, a lot, like I'm not gonna say that I didn't, but, uh. I, um," He coughed. "I know it sometimes looked like, maybe, I was jealous? Uh, so Mystery says."

She nodded slowly. She really,  _really_ hoped this wasn't going in the direction she thought it might.

"But I wasn't...jealous of him." Um. "I was...actually jealous of you."

"Oh."

"You liked him more than me, though. And...and he liked you. So." His eyes were getting watery again, and Mystery nosed their way under his hand. He sniffled, and petted them shakily. "I just - the way I - the way the ghost pushed him - he turned around as he fell. He saw  _me_ , Vivi. When he died, he thought I killed him." His lip was trembling in earnest now, and he scooped Mystery fully into his arm.

"It's okay." What useless words, she thought.

Vivi didn't know what to say, so she just sat on his bed until the drugs in his system pulled him back into sleep. She envied him.

Once she was certain he was fully under, she gestured to Mystery to come outside. She shut the door quietly and leaned against the wall outside. The hallway was empty.

"I figured you should know." Mystery's quiet voice interrupted the stupor she felt herself falling into more and more often, lately.

She shrugged. "I'm glad, I guess? That he told me. I don't know. It does explain some things."

They stood in silence for a few moments before Mystery said, "You know, the doctors say he would have bled out if you hadn't tied his arm."

She nodded, smiling faintly. Even with the blood flow staunched as much as possible, they'd still used some of the donation money people had raised for them on a deep-cleaning car service for the van. It had still taken two rounds. She supposed she was fortunate to only have lost one friend, instead of two or three.

There was something important she still needed to say - several somethings. "Mystery...I'm sorry."

"What? Why?"

"Back in the cave, I..." Her throat closed up as Mystery's eyes lit with comprehension.

To her relief and confusion, they shook their head. "Vivi, I don't blame you."

She still felt she had to protest. "I should have known you'd never hurt him if you didn't have to -"

They shook their head again, more vigorously, but it was true. Arthur had been the first one to befriend Mystery.

She cut off their next words. "Look, never mind if you don't blame me, I still feel bad about it. Okay?"

Mystery looked like they were about to say something, but they closed their mouth.

"It would be really awesome if you told me more about the kind of abilities you have, though. I'm going to need all the info I can get."

Mystery blinked. "...Vivi?"

"I quit my job at the museum yesterday."

" _What_?"

She wet her lips, looking resolutely ahead and trying really hard to ignore the incredulous look Mystery was giving her. "We weren't ready for that ghost."

"Well, obviously, but -"

"We should have been ready. And I want to be ready. We can wish that we hadn't gone in all we want, but the fact is that we did, and if we hadn't it would really matter on the whole because that ghost would have killed other reckless people who ignored the signs like us. Maybe it already killed people before - before Lewis." Her voice got smaller. "I don't want any more Lewises."

She drew in a breath and squared her shoulders, still staring straight in front. "I just wanted you to know. So you and Arthur could, you know, quit if you wanted. Since that's not what you guys signed up for. I, I would like to keep doing it with you, though. I just..."

Her voice trailed off. She felt Mystery nudge at her leg, and looked down. Mystery was giving her this weird resigned-affectionate look.

"Vivi, even if Arthur wants out - which I don't know if he will - I'd still help you out." They bared their teeth, just a little too sharp for a normal dog. "You need someone to keep you grounded. Logical."

She grinned. "Should we put out wanted ads?"

"Oh, ha, ha."

~*~

Weeks and then months passed, and Vivi only woke up speechless from dreams of blood soaking into her skin every other night. Halloween came and went, and Vivi managed to stay at the haunted house in town for a whole half hour before she blinked and found herself sitting in the port-a-potty, weeping.

The Mystery Skulls Paranormal Agency was doing a brisk business. A surprising number of cases turned out to be the living masquerading as the dead for esoteric reasons, but at least every few clients had a real spirit problem. With each specter they dispatched, exorcised, or sent to rest, Vivi's database and Arthur's confidence grew.

Eight months after Lewis' death, it was the day scheduled for the destruction of the haunted mine. The Mystery Skulls went along with the demolitionists, excavators, and assorted supervisors. They said nothing, but they knew this was the best closure they were ever going to get.

As the malicious ghost shrieked and cried in their demon's trap, Vivi silently told it that this was fair. This was for taking her love's life and her best friend's arm. As it dissolved into greenish ectoplasm, she thought, this is for everyone you've hurt, and everyone you won't get a chance to ever again.

Before the demolitionists set their charges, Vivi walked down the corridor to the cavern floor. The ghost's presence had kept most of the wildlife away, so Lewis' blood had dried on the stone. She unclasped her heart locket and gazed at the picture inside. Lewis had made it a point to take her to every haunted house he could find, because he knew she loved them. Lewis had loved photobooths, so this picture had seemed like a natural choice for the kitschy gold-colored locket he'd gotten her on a whim on their fifth date.

She touched his smiling face. This is what she would remember. Not the awful gaping look on the stalagmite, not the waxy serenity from the half-open casket funeral. This, this grinning burst of color, was the person she loved.

She wrapped the chain several times around the rust-colored stalagmite and clasped it.

Vivi walked away.

_I love you, Lewis._

~*~

When Lewis woke up, it was dark.

He thought,  _light_ , and there was light. Magenta. His favorite.

He saw Vivi's locket, lying next to some rocks. It had lost its chain somehow. It took him a few tries to pick it up - his hands kept passing through things - but he did. It started to glow. His hands were see-through, and looked more like the impression of hands than actual hands.

Why was he here? In the dark, all alone?

Arthur. Arthur pushed him. Why?

The answer came. Those looks he'd give Vivi and himself together. How could he?

It didn't matter. It didn't matter. He looked at his hands again. He decided that they needed to look better, and so they grew white designs on black gloves. He wanted to wear a suit, so he did.

The picture in the locket was at a haunted house. He could make a haunted house. The best haunted house ever. He'd show Vivi that he'd never meant to be left behind, that he knew what she liked better than anyone. When she came back.

Lewis thought, I need clear ground, so he rose. He clutched the locket in his hands, feeling it pulse like a heart.

_I love you, Vivi._

**Author's Note:**

> This fic kind of sprung up fully formed from my consciousness, mostly because I saw some people theorizing that Vivi didn't know it was Arthur who pushed Lewis, and I was wondering how exactly he explained the missing arm. Also I wanted to know why Lewis was so darn far away from where he died and ostensibly in the middle of flipping nowhere, so I thought HEY MAYBE IT WAS THE SAME PLACE. Also the locket. Also Vivi's delight at the haunted house.
> 
> To be honest this is all rampant headcanoning, but WHAT THE HELL it's a four minute animated music video I can do what I want
> 
> also I love Vivi and this is partially my interpretation of what that weird pink eye shit was
> 
> WHAT A DEBUT ON AO3 AMIRITE


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